Project Freelancer: Agents of Fiore
by Sniperz-x-Elite
Summary: One fateful day, Lucy finds out that those you trust aren't always trustworthy. Betrayed by those they thought were their family, Lucy, Wendy, Erza, Happy and Carla must go on a journey to help those still trapped at Fairy Tail. With the help from a group of mysterious soldiers, will they be able to survive outside of Fairy Tail?
1. Chapter 1

**Project Freelancer: Agents of Fiore**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Red vs Blue.**

 **Chapter One: Betrayal**

 _Today is the day."_ Lucy thought as she packed her suitcase with clothing and supplies to last for around two days, _it has been three months, but I finally get to go on a mission with the whole of Team_ Natsu again!"

Three months ago, an old member of Fairy Tail returned. Her name was Lisanna Strauss, the youngest sister of Mirajane and Elfman Strauss, as well as being believed to have been killed two years prior to Lucy joining the guild.

When Lisanna had returned three months ago, the entire guild had held a massive party that had lasted the entire week. Not too shockingly Makarov found a pile of noise complaint letters on his desk the following week.

However, during those three months, people began to ignore Lucy, Natsu and Grey stopped doing missions with her and instead went with Lisanna. The only ones who didn't ignore her were Erza, Wendy, Levy, Mira, Cana, Juvia, Happy, Carla and the Thunder God Tribe, the last one being the most shocking of all.

But that all changed yesterday when Natsu came and told her that the Master had assigned their team, Wendy and Lisanna a special mission. Hence the reason why Lucy is packing her bag.

She had decided that she would wear a pink tank top that went to just above her belly button, a black pleated skirt that fell just above her knee, a brown belt around the skirt to hold her keys and whip and a pair of calf high brown boots. Her hair was place in an off centred pony tail.

She spent nearly half an hour packing before she was ready to depart to the train station. She locked up her apartment and set off down the road, walking along the edge near the river, summoning Plue to keep her company.

When she arrived at Magnolia Train Station, she noticed that Erza, Wendy and Carla were already there.

"Good morning you three." Lucy happily said as she stopped just in front of them.

"Good morning Lucy." Erza greeted back, a warm smile gracing her face as she did.

Erza was wearing her Heart Kreuz armour, which had a shine to it, suggesting Erza had waxed it. It consisted of a chest plate which donned a golden cross on it, with the Fairy Tail symbol behind it, gauntlets that went up to her elbow, a blue pleated skirt that fell just above her knee and black knee high boots. Her scarlet hair was left to flow freely.

"Hello Lucy." Wendy replied, a cheerful grin adorning her young face.

Wendy was wearing a blue and yellow sun dress, that had a white bow on it. On each arm she wore a white band that flayed out around the back of her arms. On her legs she donned similar band that flayed outwards around the back, however theses ones pointed upwards instead of downwards like the ones on her arms. She wore simple blue strap shoes.

"Hello Lucy." Carla said in her usual regal tone with her face seeming to remain emotionless, but everyone knew that that was normal for her.

Carla was wearing a black tank top that had pink trims around the arms, neckline and the hem of the shirt. She wore a black pleated skirt that ended just above her knees.

"Where are the others?" Lucy inquired, looking around the station for the missing four.

"Gray and Lisanna are most likely still packing, whilst Happy is probably trying to drag Natsu here." Erza responded, using her knowledge of the four's personalities.

Ten minutes passed by before the rest were spotted entering the station.

"Hurry up you four, we are going to miss the train!" Erza bellowed, causing the four to sprint towards them as they began to head to the train, their tickets having been bought by Lucy before they arrived.

Erza, Lucy, and Wendy sat in one booth, whilst Natsu, Gray and Lisanna sat in the booth across the aisle from them. Happy and Carla sat with the three girls, Carla sat on Wendy's lap and Happy was curled up on Lucy's.

The train set off, chugging along the track as it left Magnolia. It was almost immediately after setting off that Natsu's motion sickness kicked on. His face became a sickly green and his cheeks became bloated. He laid his head down in Lisanna's lap whilst she stroked his unruly, salmon coloured hair. This sight sent a pang of pain to Lucy's heart as she witnessed this.

"Lucy are you alright? You seem distressed." Carla stated, noticing the look of sadness that crossed the blonde girl's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine Carla. No need for you to worry." Lucy lied, hoping to spare the exceed the burden of knowing her heartache.

"What this mission Master gave you anyway?" Erza inquired.

"It's a simple pest extermination mission in the middle of Worth Woodsea. Apparently this pest had become a nuisance to the magical community and needs to be taken out." Gray replied, taking his shirt off as he did.

"Gray, clothes!" Erza growled, growing tired of Gray's stripping habit.

"Ahh shit! Not again!" He panicked, quickly scrambling to put on the discarded piece of clothing.

The train travel along passing through different towns before arriving at the station that was close to the forest. Six hours were spent on that train, six hours of having to hear Natsu groan in pain and everyone else either chatting or in the exceed's case, sleeping.

"Whoo, we're here!" Natsu cheered, humping in the air as he did, "I'm never getting on that death trap again."

"Natsu, you do realise we have to take a train to get back to Magnolia right?" Lisanna questioned.

His face went white and he began to sweat.

"You're an idiot Natsu." Lucy said as she sweat dropped at his stupidity.

They walked for about an hour before reaching the edge of Worth Woodsea, not thinking twice before entering the dense forest which had once held Nirvana, the reason why the forest was dark and gave off a deathly aura. Despite it being months since the Nirvana incident, the pollution caused by the magic being sealed had yet to diminish, so most of the plants in the area were still dead.

The group walked for another hour before reaching a clearing. This clearing was quite wide, and was surrounded on either side by dense forest. The grass around here was a brown colour, almost blending into the dry dirt below it.

"This looks like the perfect spot." Natsu said, looking around, surveying the area.

"Agreed. Let's just get this over with." Gray said, becoming completely serious.

"What are you two talking about? There aren't any monsters around here." Carla stated, not understanding why this spot was such a good spot.

"Don't you worry Carla; we already have the pest right where we want them." Natsu said with his famous pre-fight grin.

"Have you two gone blind, the monster we are here to fight isn't here, heck there isn't anything here but us!" Erza exclaimed, growing increasingly frustrated with the two boys on their team.

"Oh but that is where you are wrong Erza, the monster is nothing more than a weak little pest and it's been following us since before we left Magnolia." Lisanna stated, sporting a grin so sinister, that it would've fitted better on one of Mira's demon forms.

"What are you getting at, if it was in Magnolia, then why did we need to come this far out to fight it?" Lucy asked, confused why the three had withheld such information from the rest.

"Because Lucy," Natsu said, turning to look at her, a glare set on her, "that pest is you and you've been nothing but a nuisance to Fairy Tail since day one."

Everything around Lucy seemed to freeze, her breathe froze, her pupils shrunk and eyes widened. She was in shock, her heart was racing and felt like it was about to explode out of her chest.

The same could be said for Erza, Wendy, Carla and Happy, all of them being shocked by Natsu's statement, all of them suffering from a mixture of sadness, confusion and, the utmost important one, rage. They were all angry at him, no, they were pissed at him.

"What you are saying Natsu is completely preposterous and when Master finds out you'll be banished from the guild!" Erza exclaimed, her voiced filled with rage and a glare that made him happy glad that looks couldn't kill.

"Who do you think gave us this task Erza?" Gray asked rhetorically, knowing that the answer was clear.

"No!" Wendy shouted, tears welling up in her eyes as she felt torn between wanting to believe her new family were kind and accepting the fact that they were nothing but snakes in the grass, "Master would never do that! He views us all as his own flesh and blood!"

"Well he did and as much as you want to deny it, he still wants the weak and useless weeded out of his guild." Lisanna said, sneering as she did.

"Move it you four, Lucy is the only one that needs to be removed, no need for any unnecessary fighting." Gray said, slamming his left fist into the palm of his right hand, frost beginning to rise from his hands as he summoned his magic.

"How can you three say that she is weak?!" Happy exclaimed, tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Happy! You be quiet or you'll suffer the same fate as she's about to!" Natsu snapped, getting annoyed at his exceed defending the weakling of their guild.

"You and Carla are weak compared to someone like Pantherlily, but you still serve more of a purpose than Lucy does." Gray stated, hoping to discourage the two so that they wouldn't get in their way.

"We won't let you hurt Lucy!" Carla said in a confident voice.

"And how are you going to protect that lousy bitch?" Lisanna said with a sickly smile on her face.

Something inside Carla and Happy snapped, allowing a huge burst of magical power to be released from their bodies. It was like a dam had burst as the amount of magical power continued to rise. Both had been covered by smoke, Happy's was blue and Carla's was white. For the second time in less than an hour, Lucy was shocked.

The smoke around the two cleared to reveal an astonishing sight. Before them stood two tigers where once had stood two exceeds.

One had light blue fur with dark blue stripes all around its body. Its underbelly was white and on its back was a green Fairy Tail symbol. He stood on all fours with paws as large as an average human's hand. Its claws were extended and we as long as a small curved knife, as sharp as one too. The mouth of the tiger was filled with razor sharp teeth, revealed to them all as it growled at the three who had been preparing to attack Lucy prior to this. This one stood at around three feet in height and the muscles it had made it look like it was ready to pounce at a moment's notice. All of this added up to them realising that this one was Happy.

The other tiger had white fur with pink stripes all around its body. This one had a white Fairy Tail symbol that was outlined in black. Like Happy, this one had its claws extended and ready to slice into its intended target. Its teeth were on show as it snarled angrily at Lisanna. It was around two and half feet tall and the way it stood suggested it was raring to go. It was clear to them that this one was Carla.

Everyone stared at the two with a bewildered look, not knowing if what they were see was real. They all stared at the tigers for what felt like an eternity, but were broken out of their stupor when Happy began to talk.

"If you try to so much as lay a finger on her, then I'll make you rue the day you were born!" Happy growled out, displaying so much confidence that he seemed nothing like he was when he was smaller. It was also noted that his voice was no longer squeaky, but deep enough that a person could feel the vibrations.

"Happy?! Why are you protecting her when you could do so much better without her?!" Natsu asked, hoping to sway the exceed to their side.

"That is where you are wrong!" Happy bellowed, "Sure she may not have much physical strength, but that's because all her strength lays with her heart, the love she has for her spirits, the love she has for us! It's because of that love that we've all been able to push on through battles!"

"You sound like Sherry." Gray stated, smirking at the thought.

"You three are the weaklings here!" Carla exclaimed, her voice much deeper, but not as deep as Happy's "short-sighted weaklings who lust for power!"

"You know this is getting annoying!" Natsu snarled, "Just because you've got a new form, doesn't mean you can stop us!"

"Ha! That's what you think!" Carla said smugly, "There is a reason the Exceed Queen sealed this power in us!"

"Oh, and why is that?" Lisanna asked in a condescending tone, "A simple transformation won't help you!"

"Why don't we test that theory." Happy said, activating his Aera magic. With his transformation, his wings had grown to about one and a half metres in length when fully extended. A major difference wasn't the size though; it was the colour. Instead of being a pure white, they were a midnight black.

"You should be warned, exceeds tend to lose control when fighting in these forms." Carla stated, extending her wings as well, also being larger and black.

Without so much as a warning, they shot forward at a blinding speed, tackling Gary and Natsu to the ground, roaring as they went. The fight had begun.

"FIRE DRAGINS'S ROAR!"

"Ice make: Lance!"

Both attacks were able to remove the two from them and give them time to make some space between them and their opponents.

As this was happening Lucy, who had finally broken out of her shock, spotted Lisanna trying to get behind the two tigers for a sneak attack.

"Animal Soul: Tigress!" She whispered, transforming into a white tiger print bikini, with paws where her hands and feet should be.

She extended her claws and drew back her right arm as she prepared to strike Happy, an evil glint in her eyes as she did. Unfortunately for her, she soon found Fleur D'Etoile wrapped around the offending limb, holding it firmly in the air and keeping it away from the fierce exceed, who was to engrossed with trying to maul the person he thought was caring and compassionate.

"YOU BITCH!" Lisanna screamed, rage overtaking her as she fought to remove the whip from her arm.

Lucy snapped her whip back, causing it to rub and burn the fur on Lisanna's arm. Lisanna hissed in pain, becoming more enraged at the blonde.

"You'll pay for that." She hissed, charging forward at the girl.

"Open, gate of the lion: Leo!"

"Why hello princess. Did you miss me?" Loke teased as he appeared next to Lucy dressed in his usually suit, which consisting of: a white button-up shirt, red tie, black jacket, black dress trousers and black formal shoes.

"Not now Loke, I need your help dealing with her."

"Oh then, leave it to me princess, I won't be but a minute." Loke said, beginning to walk towards thee charging girl, a scowl on his face. "You really should've stayed in Edolas Lisanna. REGULAS IMPACT!"

With a thrust of his fist, a huge burst of magic flew out at Lisanna, striking her head on. The force of the attack was so massive, it flung her off her feet and through the air, only coming to a stop when she collided with a tree, rendering her unconscious.

"LISANNA!" Natsu bellowed, shocked at what he had witnessed, then enraged at the people who had caused it.

Lucy and Loke were forced to jump out of the way as Happy was thrown at them. Natsu charged towards Lucy flame covering both of his arms as he prepared to unleash a wing attack on her. As he leapt in the air to complete the attack, Erza and Wendy intervened.

"SKY DRAGON'S ROAR!"

"REQUIP: HEAVEN WHEEL! DANCE MY BLADES!"

The breath attack struck him, pushing him away from Lucy and back towards Lisanna and Gray. Unfortunately, he was able to dodge most of the swords, only being cut slightly by the ones he failed to dodge; nothing major though.

"Natsu! Lisanna is hurt bad, we need to fall back!"

"Fuck! Fine, but if I see any of you fuckers again, I will kill you!"

With that, the two left, carrying Lisanna with them. The ones that remained didn't relax for what felt like hours, not wanting to risk a surprise attack.

Eventually they did, believing that they were in the clear; at least for now. Erza returned to her Heart Kreuz armour, everyone else just stopped looking tense.

Lucy and Wendy collapsed to the ground, the stress of the day and the battle that they had just been in finally taking its toll on them.

"What are we gonna do?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know." Erza responded, "What I do know is that we can't risk going back to the guild, Magnolia even."

"But what about our stuff? What about Mira, Levy, Cana and Juvia?" Lucy questioned, worried they were in danger too.

"I think they'll be fine. As far as I can tell they were only aiming for you."

"We should get out of here in case they return with more." Carla stated, her eyes not leaving the gap in the forest the three had disappeared through.

"I agree, we'll head in the opposite direction and set up camp in the next clearing we come across!" Erza ordered, walking in the direction opposite to where Carla was looking.

Lucy and Wendy stood up, quickly following after the red head. Happy and Carla followed after, both on edge in case the group was jumped.

They walked into the forest, thinking they were alone and safe to move. However, they failed to notice the shimmer that followed after them.

 **A.N – Hope you enjoyed this first instalment to my new fanfiction. Please follow and favourite and leave a review on what you thought about it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Project Freelancer: Agents of Fiore**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything**

 **Chapter Two: A Proposal**

The group walked for several hours, not stopping once out of fear that they would be ambushed if they did.

Their muscles ached and tiredness loomed over them, waiting to claim them. The group wouldn't let that stop them though, they had to find another clearing first.

They carried on walking for another half an hour, each step making their legs feel heavier and heavier, a lot like how despair was starting to weigh them down emotionally.

However, like all clouds have silver linings, the forest opened up to a paradise in an otherwise Hellish place.

They had found a clearing with lush green grass that was as soft as a feather stuffed cushion. Running along past the clearing, was a cerulean blue river, something which looked refreshing to the worn out group. This was a place untouched by Nirvana's pollution.

Lucy, Wendy and Happy collapsed to the ground, each letting out sighs of relief at the thought of being able to rest.

"I would not relax yet; we've still got to get a fire going before the sun fully sets." Carla stated, receiving groans of displeasure from the trio.

"Carla is right." Erza said in agreement, "If we don't get a fire started then monsters may try to approach us and attack us."

The group let out groans of frustration, but knew the two were right and rose to their aching feet once again.

The group began to collect sticks and dry grass from the tree line, getting enough to fill up their arms before heading back to the middle of the clearing where the each returned to. They then piled some of the sticks into a pyre, leaving the rest to the side to be used as fuel later. The centre of the pyre was stuffed with dry grass to use as the fire starter, a chunk of dry grass was placed on some bark to set alight and then thrown on the rest of the dry grass in the fire.

Some flint was found and given to Erza, who would strike it against her left gauntlet in attempt to start the fire.

Sparks flew with strike she made, but didn't seem to have any effect as the grass remained unlit.

Frustration began to flow through the red head's body as each strike became more and more aggressive, anger fuelling each one. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to rest, but knew she couldn't do that until there was a fire, and thus the reason why she was frustrated was clear.

"Motherfucker! Just light already!" Erza screeched, losing her temper with the attempt fire that was the current bain of her existence.

"Erza, you need to calm down." Lucy stated, walking up to the red head and taking the flint from her hand, "We're all tired and frustrated, but erratically striking your gauntlet the way you are is only lessening your chance of lighting it and increasing your chance of setting the entire clearing ablaze."

Erza just sighed and nodded her head in response, understanding what the blonde girl meant.

"Pass us your arm, let me try and light it." Lucy ordered in a gentle voice.

Erza followed Lucy's instruction and held her left arm out, allowing the girl to grip and direct it towards the dry grass on the bark.

Lucy struck the gauntlet with the pieces of flint with enough force to cause sparks, but did it in a controlled manner that meant the sparks flew into the dry grass. It took three strikes before smoke began to rise from the dry grass, causing joy to fill the two as they noticed this, and then they were almost ecstatic when the dry grass was surrounded by flames.

Wasting no time, Lucy picked up the bark on placed it in the centre of the pyre with the other dry grass, where it quickly set it ablaze and the fire began to burn the wood, spreading light across the clearing.

The sudden light had alerted the other three who had been sat near the river waiting for the fire to be lit. They too were filled with joy when they saw the fire burning and went over to where Lucy and Erza sat around it.

"Thank God, that was more stressful than I thought it would be." Erza stated to the others.

"Your just tired. If you had more energy you would've been able to do it faster." Lucy said to the older girl, reminding her of their earlier discussion.

"Yeah your right, had we not been forced into such a situation, none of us would've been so exhausted." Erza responded, bringing forth their friends' betrayal to the front of their minds.

"What are we going to do now?" Wendy asked the two girls she viewed as her older sisters.

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked

"I mean, what are we going to do now that we can't return to Fairy Tail?" Wendy explained.

This caused the others to begin to think, not sure themselves what they should do now that they were no longer welcome at the place they called home.

They spent several moments thinking, trying to come up with a way that they could use resolve the situation they found themselves in, only to be interrupted by Happy's head shooting up.

His ears pointed straight up and his nose was in the air sniffing as if he was trying to find something. Suddenly he looked in the direction they had come from and began to growl, his fur standing on end.

Before anyone could question him about his sudden behaviour, he charged into the forest, disappearing into the bushes.

"Happy!" Lucy shouted out of shock, confused about the Exceed's actions, turning to Carla for an explanation.

"I don't know what has gotten into the tomcat, but I think it has something to do with the sudden smell blood and metal that was getting close to us." Carla responded, understanding why the blonde girl looked her way.

The sudden sound of gunfire and roaring drew their attention back to the forest, worrying them as they were unable to tell if Happy was alright or not.

Movement to their right caught their attention as they heard the sound of bushes being moved and twigs snapping under the weight of something stepping on them. The sound was heading towards the river and seemed as though they were about to make it, before they were blindsides by a blue blur that forced them into the clearing, revealing to the group a person in black armour, with a golden visor and a panting Happy, who was staring into the visor of the person who was trapped beneath him as he growled at them in a threatening way. The gun they had been using had fallen from their grip and now laid just out of their reach with them in this position.

However, without warning, the person beneath him used their strength to flip their positions so that they were now on top and Happy was on the bottom. To make matters worse, they had gotten a hold of their gun again and was now holding it to Happy's head.

The group suddenly became aware of the predicament their friend found himself in, reacting in the way mages are expected are to react. Erza went to summon a pair of sword, Lucy went to grab a key from her belt, Wendy began to draw in breath and Carla extended her wings.

"HOLD IT!" a voice bellowed from the armour, sounding feminine, but had an unknown accent behind it, "I only want to talk."

The group didn't believe her, something about her was causing their instincts to scream at them to attack, but they knew that the woman had Happy at gun point and that one wrong move would only spell bad news for him.

"If you only want to talk, then why do you have a gun at our friend's head?" Lucy questioned.

The armoured woman looked at her, the visor glaring at her sent a shiver down the blonde's spine as she felt fear course through her body at being unable to tell what kind of look the woman was giving her.

"He attacked me, I'm just making sure he doesn't try anything stupid whilst I talk to you. Wouldn't want to have to splatter what little brains his has all over the ground, would I now?" The woman asked rhetorically, "That being said, should you also try something stupid, I'll shoot him in the skull and then yourselves."

This added to the fear they felt when looking at the woman, knowing that woman wasn't bluffing and that if they wanted to live, it was probably in their best interest to comply with her for the time being.

"Who are you?" Erza demanded.

"I'm Agent Texas or just Texas, whichever one is fine with me."

"What is it you want to talk about?" Erza asked.

"I have been tailing you guys since before your little scuffle with your "friends" and I couldn't help but notice the predicament you find yourselves in." Texas said to the group.

"What's it to you?" Erza asked in a defensive tone.

"I may be able to help you." Tex stated.

"How so? I doubt someone who reeks of death could have anyway of helping us!" Happy growled out from underneath her.

"You'd be surprised kitty-cat." Texas said in a condescending way.

This caused Happy to growl and start to struggle beneath her, only to be reminded of the fact she currently held his life in her hands when she pushed the gun against his skull a little harder.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I have a way to help you, but it means you'd have to agree to a few terms first." Texas stated to the group.

She received nods from the group, telling her to continue.

"Firstly, you must be prepared to go on missions they may cost you your lives." Texas started, the group nodding at this one, "Secondly, you must be prepared to undergo training that may seem brutal, but the end results will be… an improvement." again the group nodded at to this statement, but did wonder why she paused before finishing, "Finally, the most important of the three, you must be prepared to kill your opponents."

The last term left the group shocked, as well as concerned over the fact that, as mages, killing another person was to be used as a last resort, but the way this woman said it, suggested that killing another person was a common practice for her.

"I'm alright with the first two, but that last one just isn't even a possibility for us." Lucy answered this time, her voice shaking at the thought that someone would even suggest such a thing.

"Before you jump to conclusions and decide that killing is completely bad, let me explain what little I can about the group I work for" Texas said to the group.

"I hope you can convince us, otherwise you won't be leaving here with us." Carla state, malice behind the words.

"Right, I work with a group of people who have decided that the organisation we used to work for was not one with a justifiable cause." Texas began, pausing to let the group take in the organisation, "However when we split from the organisation, there were only five of us, making the escape tricky and taking down said organisation impossible at the time."

"So you're saying you betrayed your organisation?" Erza inquired.

"Yes and no." Texas answered, "The organisation was a sub-organisation of a much bigger one. We betrayed the sub-organisation as it was doing things that would've gotten everyone involved with it, in a serious amount of trouble should the main organisation find out."

"Then why didn't you report it to the main one?" Carla asked.

"Our transmitters aren't stronger enough to reach them and any attempt at reaching a communication station would result in our demise." Texas responded.

"How so?" Erza asked, despite not knowing what a communication station was.

"The main organisation has never made it this far out and thus the only communication stations around here are run by the sub-organization, meaning all those who guard them are loyal to its cause." Texas responded.

The girls ceased asking the woman any questions, looking at each other and nodding as if coming to an unspoken agreement.

"If we agree to your terms, will we be forced to kill or do we chose if the person we are fighting lives or dies?" Lucy asked.

"Depends on your orders, sometimes it is better leave no one alive on the opposing side, sometimes it left to the individual to decided their opponent's fate. Usually best if we just kill them all though, makes life easier when they can't call for reinforcements." Texas replied.

"I think we don't have a choice here. We either wonder around without a purpose and probably perish before we find one, or we join these guys and have a better chance of surviving outside of Fairy Tail." Carla stated.

"I agree, as much as killing is wrong, I would rather kill those who would break the laws of their people, than die in a wasteland." Erza agreed with Carla, the other two nodding, whilst Happy just grunted his confirmation.

"If you're going to join us, then I'll call the others to come and pick us up." Texas stated, getting off of Happy and walking a few metres away from the group to make the call.

The group stood in silence as they waited for Texas to re-join them once she had finished with talking to who she works for.

Texas returned, but she seemed to be much stiffer in the way she walked, also like she was anticipating something.

"The others I work with have informed me that this area is going to be too hot for them to land in thirty seconds from now, meaning that they want us to move down river to another clearing that is similar to this one. There, they'll be waiting for us." Texas said to the group.

"What do you mean? Are there monsters nearby?" Erza questioned, drawing a sword and preparing to combat whoever it was that was making it impossible for their transport to get to them.

"Not monsters, something much more worrying." Texas stated, "Well much more worrying for you, they shouldn't be too much trouble for me to handle."

"You know who it is?" Lucy questioned.

"As they were flying overhead, they picked up figure on the crafts recon camera five minutes ago heading in our direction. They described the figure as a teenage boy, in white shorts, a black armless jacket, sandals, a white scaled scarf and salmon pink hair. Ring a bell?" Texas explained to the group.

"Natsu is coming, but how? Why didn't he go with Gray and Lisanna?" Lucy asked, a twinge of fear in her voice.

"Your guess is as good as mine kid." Texas said to the blonde, "But for now, let's get to the meet up point…"

Texas was unable to finish as her instincts suddenly began to scream at her to duck. She did just that, a fireball passing narrowly over her head, forcing the group to jump out of its way.

Jumping to her feet, Texas unclipped her M-Six Magnum and began to fire into the dark forest in the general direction from which the fireball came from, hoping that one would hit the attacker. She only stopped shooting once the ammo clip in her gun had run, which she the dispensed and replaced with a full one.

"You five need to follow the river down to the next clearing. There you'll find our pick-up with two other agents in armour similar to mine." Texas ordered.

"What about you?" Wendy asked.

"I'm going to buy you time and hold this mother fucker back. Once you reach them, tell the other agents to radio me and I'll then start to make my way to you, got it?" Texas ordered the group, receiving nods from them, "Then what are you waiting for? Move it!"

The group were spurred into action, heading towards the river and following it down stream.

"Alright Pinky! It's just you and me, let's make this easy and you just let me put a bullet between your eyes!" Texas shouted out into the forest, waiting for a response of any kind.

"Look woman, all I want is the others who were with you. So move out of my way!" Natsu demanded.

"Not a chance!" Texas responded, spotting movement in the shadows and wasted no time in firing at it.

The shadow moved quickly, being able to avoid each shot. Texas' Magnum began to make clicking noise, signalling that it was empty, something that Natsu noticed.

"FIRE DRAGON'S: ROAR!"

The jet of flames flew straight at Texas, forcing her dodge, narrowly missing it. However, despite not taking it head on, her left shoulder pad had begun to melt from the heat of the flames, causing Texas to rip it off before it melted down to the under-armour, then her skin.

Natsu sprinted out of the forest at her, sending a flaming kick at Texas' head, only for her to dodge it and retaliate with a punch to the stomach and then following up with an elbow to the head by spinning a hundred and eighty degrees anti-clockwise.

The bow to the head sent Natsu flying, leading to him landing in his stomach. He begun to rise, only to be stopped when he felt the barrel of pistol pushed up against his skull.

"Checkmate dipshit." Texas said to the boy, her finger hovering over the trigger.

"You really going to kill me?" Natsu asked confidently.

"Ya damn right I am. Say high to the Devil for me." Texas said, pulling the hammer on the gun back.

"WELL YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF!" Natsu bellowed, suddenly being covered in flames that exploded off of him, filling the entire clearing with flames.

The group of five had just reached the next clearing down when they sore flames and smoke rising from where they had once been.

"Do you think that lady is alright?" Wendy asked.

"I'm sure she's fine." Lucy lied, she herself had no idea if the woman would even be able to hold out against Natsu.

They all turned their attentions to what in habited the new clearing.

In it was a metal ship like vehicle that was unlike any airship they had seen before. For starters, it was much smaller than an airship; airships being able to hold at least a hundred crew members, whilst this new vehicle looked like it could only hold a percentage of that. Secondly, it had a cockpit that had only two seats in it, one for the pilot and one for the co-pilot, again only being a percentage of what was needed to move an airship.

They were so busy marvelling at the contraption before them, that they failed to notice the two people come from behind it.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" A man in gold armour, similar to Texas', with a silver trim demanded.

The group jumped in shock and turned to look at the two before Erza spoke for them.

"We were sent here." She answered

"By who?" The other man asked, his armour being steel grey with yellow accents, his armour being of the same make as the other two's.

"A woman who said she was called Agent Texas." Erza responded.

The two men looked at each other before looking back at the group.

"Who are you?" The grey and yellow one asked.

"We're mages." Erza stated.

"What did Agent Texas tell you?" The one in gold and silver armour asked.

"She told us that we could work in your organisation." Lucy responded this time.

"If that's what she said, then you're the lot she reported in about." The grey and yellow one spoke, "I'm Agent Washington, Wash for short."

"And I'm Agent New York, or just York." The gold and silver one stated, "Our pilot is Four-Seven-Niner, she usually only speaks when she is yelling at us to get on the Pelican."

"Pelican?" Carla asked.

"That thing behind us." Wash said, pointing at the metal contraption, "Oh and by the way, did that tiger just talk?"

"I'm an exceed actually, and yes, I did just talk." Carla answered.

"That fucking awesome!" Wash exclaimed.

"Oi fucktards!" a woman shouted, standing just behind the Pelican, "Are they the people Tex sent?!"

"Yeah they are!" York shouted back to her.

"Well move your fucking arses and get on board!" The woman replied back.

The two men ushered the group to follow them, leading them around the back and through and opening that was extremely wide. The inside was a gun-metal grey, with red lights providing a light source. On either side of the vehicle were five seats, with safety restraints for the occupants, which looked like they had to be pulled over their heads.

"Wash, get them strapped in, I'm going to go ask Four-Seven-Niner about the sudden need to leave." York said, walking through a door in the front of the ship.

Wash got girls to sit down, pulling each of their restraints over their heads. The only thing he could do for the exceeds, was to make them sit on the seats as he pulled the restraints over their heads.

Whilst he was doing that, York was speaking to Four-Seven-Nine.

"Oi, Texas still ain't back! Why are we leaving without her?!" York demanded.

"She's the one who gave the order. Said that we had to go to the secondary L.Z and that we had to reaming hovering." Four-Seven-Niner replied.

"Why the need for the move?" York questioned aloud, "you don't think that he caught wind of us being here do ya?"

"Well it wouldn't surprise me, but something tells me that isn't the case." Four-Seven-Niner responded.

"How much do you think Tex told them?" York asked the pilot, taking a seat in the co-pilots chair.

"Enough that they know what in store for them." Four-Seven-Niner responded, pulling the craft off the ground and accelerating it forward over the trees.

"Agent Texas to Four-Seven-Niner: What's your status?!" Texas shouted as an explosion was heard in the background.

"We're about a minute away from the secondary L.Z." Four-Seven-Niner responded, "How are things on your side?"

"I've lost my armour, that got turned to molten metal!" Texas responded, "On the plus side, I think I've lost…"

"Agent Texas? I didn't catch the end of that, please repeat." Four-Seven Niner ordered.

"Can't talk right now." Texas responded, "Just don't land, remain hovering at the edge of the cliff and I'll jump in."

The line went dead, leaving the two inside the cockpit perplexed.

"What do you think has got her spooked?" Four-Seven-Niner asked York.

"Dunno?" York responded, "Hey D, can you track her?"

"Affirmative, but only because of Omega. Without her armour, I cannot track her." Delta responded, his green hologram appearing on York's shoulder, "I am also picking up three additional A.I signals."

That caused the two to become alarmed, wondering which they were.

"Delta, who are they?" York asked.

"Eta, Iota and Sigma." Delta responded.

"Mother fucker it's Maine!" York exclaimed, shock filling his voice.

"How is he even here?! He was last seen on Sidewinder wasn't he?!" Four-Seven-Niner asked, her voiced filled with just as much shock as the York's.

"Wash, I hope you're ready for a fight!" York shouted to Wash, who was still in the cargo bay of the Pelican.

"Why?!" Wash shouted back in confusion.

"Tex is bringing an old friend of ours with her, a big mute brute!" York responded.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, you are, aren't you?!"

"Nope!" Four-Seven-Niner responded this time, "Betta put that mounted machine gun I had installed to use Wash!"

Wash responded with a groan of annoyance, walking over to machine gun that was suspended in front of the cargo bay doors by a metal pole.

"Four-Seven-Niner to Agent Texas: we've reached the secondary L.Z; how copy." Four-Seven-Niner stated over the comms.

"I'm almost there, but Pinky has caught back up and for some god forsaken reason, he and Maine have come to the mutual agreement to kill me as a team!" Tex responded, breathing heavily as she was still pushing herself to move faster.

"Better move fast, I'm almost at bingo fuel." Four-Seven-Niner stated.

Tex was running as fast as her legs could carry her, pushing herself to her limit. She knew she's be left behind if she didn't get there soon, no way Four-Seven-Niner would risk her bird crashing because of a lack of fuel.

She burst through the bushes that lead to the secondary L.Z, which just so happened to be near a cliff edge that overlooked a portion of the forest.

She could see Four-Seven-Niner hoovering near the edge of the cliff, close enough to it that Tex would be able to jump straight into it.

"Tex has just entered the clearing!" Wash shouted.

The group who were sat in the cargo bay with him looked out of the door to see a woman with blonde hair, which was in a ponytail at the base of her skull, reaching down to between her shoulder blades. Her armour was now completely gone, only leaving her in tattered under-armour that was full of holes, but was still allowing her to keep her modesty.

Behind her came Natsu and another armoured figure.

This new armoured figure didn't wear armour like the others. For starters, his helmet was more visor than metal, making it look like he had a golden dome on his head. His armour colour was white, with his shoulder pads and knee guards being brown.

"Fucking hell! You weren't kidding about Maine being here!" Wash shouted to the occupants of the cockpit.

"You need to have more faith in us Wash, it was Delta that told us anyway!" York shouted back.

"Yeah and you know what I think about !" Wash responded.

"Just shut up and shoot them already!" Tex shouted over the radio, having heard the two over the comms they hadn't realised were active.

"Oops, my bad!" Wash exclaimed as he began to fire the machine gun at Maine and Natsu, forcing them to take cover behind a couple of rocks that were in the clearing.

Texas continued running, reaching the edge of the cliff and leaping in. Her feet touched down on the edge of the ramp barely, leading to her nearly falling back out. Luckily for her, Wash noticed this and reached out and grabbed her right arm, pulling her into the Pelican, only for her to collide with him and for them both to end up on the floor, with her on top.

"Tell anyone about this, and I will tear off your balls and feed them to those over-grown lizards!" Tex whispered to him.

"Got it!" Wash squeaked back.

"Watch out!" Erza exclaimed, causing the two to direct their attentions to the open bay door.

By doing so, they were greeted by the sight of Maine mid-flight with his brute shot held above his head, aiming for the two who were on the ramp.

"Happy!" They heard Lucy shout in shout in shock.

Just as he approached the two, he was suddenly slammed into by a blue blur, knocking him and itself out of the Pelican and back onto the cliff edge below.

Tex and Wash both looked over the edge to see Maine wrestling with Happy. It was clear to the two that Happy was no match for Maine's strength, but he was much faster, making it possible for him to dodge, as well as making it impossible for Maine to defend against his quick attacks easily.

In the end, Happy toppled Maine over, landing on top of him and pinning him. He then followed up by biting down on his neck, trying his hardest to tear it out, but was unfortunately stopped by a swift punch from Maine, punching him off just as he began to draw blood.

"Oi! Cat, we've got to go!" Tex shouted to Happy.

Happy gave a parting growl to the dazed Maine, who held a hand over his throat.

The exceed then went onto spread his wings and use them to boost him onto the ship, landing between Wash and Tex.

"Everybody is aboard, time to get out of here Four-Seven-Niner!" Tex shouted to the pilot.

"Already on it!" Four-Seven-Niner shouted back, the ship jerking forward as it began to move away from the area, the cargo bay doors beginning too close now that Wash, Tex and Happy were no longer stood on them.

"Nice save kitty-cat." Tex said in a less condescending tone, kneeling down next to him.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I only attacked him because he would've become a threat to the girls had he got on board." Happy said, quite enough that Tex heard him, but no one else did.

"I take it they mean a lot to you?" Tex inquired.

"They do, if not for them I'd still be a little talking cat." Happy responded, ending their little talk and walking over to the ones who were his family in all but blood.

"What were you thinking tom-cat?! You could've been killed!" Carla screeched at her fellow exceed.

"Carla, I think you know my reason for doing what I did." Happy said, sitting back in the seat he was once sat.

Carla said no more knowing exactly what Happy meant and she knew he had no choice but to do it.

"We'll be back at base camp in around ten minutes." Four-Seven-Niner said, using the Pelican's intercom this time, "I'll warn you once we're a minute out."

With that, everyone inside the Pelican resigned into a state of silence, waiting for when they reached their destination.

 **A.N – Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please follow, favourite and review to tell me how I could improve it, especially about any grammar problems, but don't do it in a condescending way please, I'll probably ignore it if it's like that.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Project Freelancer: Agents of Fiore**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

 **Chapter Three: Reunion**

The flight to base camp was quiet, everyone opting to stay quiet throughout the journey.

The ten minutes felt like hours, tension was high between the group of armoured beings and the group of mages. The only one not seeming to be bother by this was the blonde woman known as Agent Texas.

Her blonde hair was kept in a ponytail at the back centre of her skull, reaching down to her shoulder blades. Her under-armour was in tatters after her fight with Natsu, his flames having melted the metal that had once covered her.

"Four Seven Niner to Base Camp: we are on approach from the south, over."

"This is Base Camp, anything of note on board this time?" A new voice that the group of mages had never heard.

"Couple of locals who Texas believes will be useful." Four Seven Niner replied.

"Define useful." The new voice ordered, "We all know that Texas has two types of useful. One being that they are useful enough to fight with us and the other being that they'll make good meat shields. I feel like it's the latter."

"I'll have you know that it's the former dip-shit." Texas responded.

"E.T.A to landing is thirty seconds." Four Seven Niner stated.

"Good to have you back." The new voice responded, a clicking sound on the speakers signalling that they had ended the call on their side.

The transport began to descend to the ground, the pilot doing it smoothly. The slight thump as the wheels touched down on the ground and the sound of the engines powering down told everyone they had landed.

Everyone vacated the transport, Texas going first, followed by the mages, with Wash, York and Four Seven Niner being the last ones off.

To greet the group was another armoured person, the configuration of the armour being the same as the York and Wash's, but the colouring was different. This one had purple with lime green accents. In his arms, he held what looked like a sniper to the group of mages.

"What happened to you?" the man asked as the first thing he noticed was the lack of armour Texas had.

"I had to deal with a little prick and then had a run in with our loveable mute." Texas responded, saying the last part with sarcasm.

"Sounds like you had plenty of fun." North stated, "Who are the newbies?"

"Those would mages whose names have yet to acquire." Texas answered, "You lot, over here!"

The group of mages, as well as York, Wash and Four Seven Niner, headed over to the two.

"Right, I'm assuming you know the three behind you." Texas said, receiving nods from the group of mages, "The man who stands next to me is Agent North Dakota." Texas stated, pointing at the purple and green armoured man, "Now what are your names?"

"I am Erza Scarlet; a Re-quip mage." Erza said, stepping forward as she did.

"I am Happy; I am an exceed." Happy greeted, sitting up straight as he did.

"I am Carla; I am also an exceed." Carla stated, fluttering her wings to get their attention.

"I am Wendy Marvell; I am a Sky Dragon Slayer." Wendy said timidly, putting her hands behind her back and staring at the ground out of shyness.

"And I am Lucy Heartfilia, I am a Celestial Spirit mage." Lucy said, her usual bubbly attitude showing through.

Lucy's introduction had caught Texas by surprise as she suddenly found herself focused solely on the younger blond. Lucy noticed this and began to get nervous, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead.

"What is it Texas?" North asked, also noticing how she was staring intently at the girl.

"Remember before we came here, I was summoned by the head honcho of the lizards?" Texas asked, looking at the man who stood next to her.

"Yeah, what about it?" North asked.

"She told me to look for her daughter whilst I was down here, something about not seeing her since she "died"." Texas responded.

"Do you think she's the one then?" North asked.

"I'm certain, she's a spitting image of that lizard's human form and has the same second name." Texas responded.

"I'll get Four Seven Niner to fuel up and then I'll contact the gate keeper." North said, walking away from Tex and motioning for Four Seven Niner to follow him.

Texas then returned her focus to the whole of the group, looking them over as she did. Her and York's conversation had been spoken in hushed voices, meaning no one heard what they had been talking about.

"Right, I know your guys probably want to rest, but something has come up and we need to head out." Texas explained, "York, Wash, pack everything up onto the Pelican, make sure you secure the Warthog. The rest of you just relax until we're ready to leave, I'm gonna go change into a new set of under-armour."

The group of mages just stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do as the others went off to sort out whatever it was they needed to do.

A little over half an hour passed, the group had sat around a fire that was in the centre of the camp, waiting as the people who had brought them here were busy loading things onto the craft that had brought them here, a Pelican was what Texas called it.

Once they were done, Texas walked over to them, dressed in new under-armour.

"We're set, better get yourselves on board the Pelican so we can get a move on." Texas said, the group getting up and following her onto the Pelican.

Once on board, they all strapped in, the harness feeling very constrictive as always. The Pelican began to rise soon after everyone was strapped in, taking to the sky and flying away from the camp.

"This Four Seven Niner to Gate of the Dragon Realm, do you copy?" Four Seven Niner said over the comms to an unknown person.

"This is Gate Keeper; we're receiving your transponder and are preparing to open the portal." A deep, rumbling voice replied.

"Copy that." Four Seven Niner replied.

"Gate opening in three… two… one… gate opened." The deep voice replied.

In front of the Pelican a swirling golden and silver vortex appeared, large enough that the Pelican passed through it without even an inch of sticking out.

The Pelican shot through the portal reaching speeds that made the dropship rattle, unused to the high speeds it was reaching.

The vehicle exited the portal and went back to its original speed.

What greeted the occupants was a magnificent sight indeed, even to those who had seen it all before. Islands floated around in the sky, each one representing a certain element like fire, earth, water, chaos. To add to it, dragons could be seen flying around, all seeming to stick to the island that their element was at.

An island at the centre was the one island that caught everyone's attention. On it was a white and gold palace, giving it a heavenly feel. The palace itself was massive, the entrance to it being large enough that the largest of dragons could easily get through.

"This is Four Seven Niner to Dragon Realm's Palace control, do you copy?" She said over the comms.

"This is Dragon Realm's Palace control; the queen is expecting you in throne room. Please land at the front of the palace" A different deep voice replied, this one sounding more feminine.

"Roger that, heading to land at the front of the palace.

With that, the Pelican began to descend towards the ground the palace sat upon, doing so with the smoothness expected of a pilot of her calibre.

The rear hatch opened and the occupants began to exit it. The ones who had yet to visit this place looked up in awe at the palace, realising just how giant it was.

"Come along you lot, don't want keep the boss lady waiting." Wash stated, ushering them to move.

"Who is this "boss lady" you speak of?" Erza inquired.

"She's the head honcho of the dragons, but don't worry, she's not a bitch like most women I know." Wash answered.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Texas asked in a threatening voice, causing Wash to freeze in place.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Wash quickly responded hoping she would accept it and not destroy his chance of ever having children.

"That's what I though, the only bitch here is our pilot." Texas stated.

"Hey! Watch it bitch, or the next time you need air-support, I won't show up!" Four Seven Niner snarled out.

"As feisty as the last time we met I see." A deep guttural voice said as they entered the palace, catching the group by surprise.

Before them stood dark red dragon, several stories tall. He was covered in thick scales that acted like armour would to a human, with two horns protruding from either side of his head. Just below his horns were what looked like fins, protruding near the lower part of his upper jaw. His eyes were onyx, and appeared to be examining each of them, as if judging them.

"Dragneel, come to greet us?" Texas stated, her voice emphasising how ironic it was for a dragon to greet mere humans.

"Not on your life human. I was simply sent by the queen to ensure what stated over the communication device was true." The red dragon answered.

"Wait Dragneel? As in Igneel Dragneel?!" Lucy stated, remembering the name of the dragon her ex-friend searched for.

"No, not Igneel, that's my older brother. I am Vatra Dragneel, second in command of the fire dragons." The red dragon responded, "Follow me humans, it would seem you have brought who the queen requested."

With that, the group followed Vatra, through a set of large doors that lead into another room.

This next room they were in was, to all extents, what one would expect of a throne room. The walls reached high, with an arched ceiling as a roof. The wall behind what appeared to be a very human sized throne, had a stained-glass window, which seemed to depict two dragons flying in a circle, following the others tail, one was gold with silver eyes, while the other was pitch black with red eyes. Leading up to the throne, was a red carpet, the edges being line with a strip of gold on either side of it. A white tiled floor laid beneath the carpet, the tiles being made from marble, giving the fitting in with the feeling of nobility that the rest of the room gave off. To finish it off, the supports to the rooms ceiling were humongous coulombs of marble, giving the group the feeling of being inside a temple.

Despite how marvellous the room was, what caught the attention of the group the most, were the two fighting dragons.

"What was that metal head!" the red dragon bellowed, him being almost an exact copy of Vatra, except for he was a head taller and scars marred his face.

"You heard me ash for brains!" A different dragon bellowed this time, butting his head against the other red dragon.

This new dragon was very different to Vatra and the other red dragon. His scales looked more like plates of metal, and were without the spines that that protruded from the red dragons. His head also lacked any protrusions, being much smoother and rounded instead. His hands were also very different, as for instead of just claws at the ends of his fingers, he also had serrated edges along each finger, making them look extremely menacing.

"Igneel and Metalicana are at it again I see." Vatra stated, shaking his head in shame of brother's action.

"Metalicana, Igneel, you aren't fighting are you." A stern voice said, coming from the side of the two that group could not see.

"No, no! We're best of friends!" Igneel and Metalicana stated, fear lacing their voices as they wrapped an arm around each other, sweating bullets at the same time.

The way the too acted reminded Lucy of her two ex-friends, who acted the same way when Erza caught them fighting.

The other dragon who had spoken was, again, different from the others they had seen. She was covered in a mixture of feathers and scales, the feathers being in places like her wings and from the base of her skull to the middle of her back. Her irises were onyx, whilst her sclera were a light blue. She wasn't as tall as Metalicana or Igneel, only reaching up to their chins.

The group heard a gasp and all looked towards the source, finding that it had come from the small bluenette. Wendy's eye had gone wide like saucepans, and tears could be seen beginning to form.

Before anyone could approach her, she began running towards the trio of dragons.

"GRANDEENEY!" The girl shouted at the top of her lungs, grabbing the dragons' attention.

When the white dragon saw Wendy running towards her, shock seemed to fill her eyes, quickly replaced with joy as she pushed the other two dragons away and began to bound to the young girl.

As she reached the girl, she was shrouded in a white, obscuring her and, because close enough, Wendy as well.

Once the white light dispersed, what now stood in the place of the dragon was a person who looked like an older version of Wendy. Her hair was the same blue as Wendy's, reaching down to her lower back. She was dressed in a white dress that fell just above her knees and had single shoulder strap, which bronze clip on it, reminding the soldiers of the what the ancient Greeks wore. Her skin was just as pale as Wendy's and her eyes had changed colour to the same brown as the younger bluenette's own eyes.

The group stood there and stared in awe at what they had just seen, even the ex-Freelancer as they had never seen a dragon display this technique.

"It's so good to see you again child!" Grandeeney exclaimed, as she hugged the girl before her.

"I've missed you Grandeeney!" Wendy cried in joy, finally being able to be with the person she saw as her mother.

"I see you have be reunited with your child." A deep rumbling voice said from behind the group, causing them to spin around in shock at having been sneaked up on.

When they did, they found three dragons behind them, neither of them having any resemble to the other two they showed up with.

One of the dragons was pure white, and had hair growing out the top of heads and beard at the end of its snout. It was around the same size as Metalicana and Igneel, but was just slightly smaller by a few inches. Spouting from either side of its head were a pair of horns, which reminded the group of antlers on a deer. The hair spread to his wings, going over the ridge at the top of them. The wings themselves had feather shaped scales, making it appear like fangs were growing from them.

Next to him stood a dragon with midnight black scales, and was around about the same size as him. Their eyes glowed an angry red, and a pair of horns sprouted from either side of their head, giving them the appearance of a demon. All down their back, from the base of their skull to the tip of their tale, shadowy mane flowed. Their wings, were like that of a demon's, black and leathery, finishing the beasts imposing appearance.

The third dragon had dirt brown scales, along with spines running down their back in the shape of rocks. This one was more the size of Grandeeney, however they seemed to give of a sense of juvenile joy just from the posture, which was in the form of them swaying and humming a joyful tune. Their wings seemed to be shaped like three leaves on each, adding to the earthy the group got from them.

"That you are right Weisslogia." Grandeeney responded.

"Tierra, would you please act a bit more professional in the throne room." The shadowy dragon ordered the earthy dragon.

"Sorry Skiadrum." Tierra, the earthy dragon, replied bashfully, her voice sounding childish and young compared to the other dragons.

"Leave the girl be, Skiadrum, she only just taken up the mantle of ruler of the Earth Dragon Kingdom, we can grant her some leeway for now." Weisslogia said to his shadowy companion, receiving a huff in response from Skiadrum.

"Now, now you two, no need to have a falling out over something so trivial as how one should act in certain places." A new voice spoke from where the throne sat, this one sounding motherly and oddly familiar to Lucy.

Another two dragons had arrived, standing near the throne and both looking feminine for dragons, at least what the group guessed female dragons looked like from seeing Grandeeney and Tierra.

One had cerulean blue scales, with spines protruding from their elbows and knees, their shape flowing like water down a river. They were around the same size as Skiadrum and Weisslogia. Their tail was shaped like a curved trident, with webs between each prong. The wings of this dragon were almost see-thru, but still looked extremely strong.

The other dragon looked almost godly with their golden scales and their glowing silver eyes. They were tall, larger than Igneel and Metalicana. Their wings were large and were the same gold and silver as their scales and eyes. All in all, this dragon appearance demanded respect, whether the dragon wanted it or not.

"Your highness." Igneel said, bowing his head towards the golden one, all the other dragons, except the blue one who had walked in with her, following suit.

"It seems almost all of us are here." The golden dragon said, the motherly voice originating from her.

"We are just waiting on your husband Achnologia, Blitz and Otrovan." Igneel stated.

"For being Blitz being the lightning dragon, the fastest moving dragon of us all, he never does arrive on time." Weisslogia said.

The door to the throne room opened, allowing three more dragons entrance to the room.

"Speak of the Devil and he shall appear." Metalicana stated.

The dragon on the left, had dark blue, gold and silver scales mixed altogether. They had a single jagged horn protruding from the end of their snout, as well as jagged spines running all the way down the centre of their back. Their wings were unlike any that the group had seen before, as the air around them seemed to vibrate, a distinct buzzing sound could be heard coming from them.

The dragon that stood to the right had purple scales, with spines that ran down the centre of their back that were tipped with a sickly green. A small line of knife shaped spines protruded from their head, these were not tipped like the others. Their wings were a lighter shape of purple from the scales, but they seemed to have a mist surrounding them,

The final dragon, the one in the middle, was very imposing. He had black scales with light blue swirls appearing all over them. On the sides of his head were fins, two large ones on either side, as well as three smaller ones as well. Instead of two large wings, he had ten thinner wings, but were just as long as the other dragons' wings, the longest probably being longer.

"I see we are the last to arrive." The middle dragon said, as he and the two next to him strode towards the other dragons.

"That would be correct boy." Metalicana growled, his patience wearing thin having been waiting for the meeting to start for quite some time.

"Now, now, I'll have no fighting in my throne room over something so trivial." The golden dragon said, her voice stern and demanding.

"I apologise my queen." Metalicana said, bowing his head to emphasise how sorry he was.

"I too am sorry my love, but the Apocalypse Dragons' Kingdom is unfortunately in a state of civil unrest." Achnologia said in a sorrowful tone, bowing his head like Metalicana.

"Then I guess the reason you bring this up in the presence of the rest of the council, is so that you can ask for assistance?" The golden dragon inquired.

"You would be correct." The giant black and blue dragon replied, "But that can wait till later. I know you didn't call this meeting to find out about the state of my kingdom."

The others dragons nodded their heads, looking towards the queen. They had no idea as to why the queen had sprung a last-minute meeting on them, but they knew it had something to do with the humans that were present.

"As you well know, we were visited by five humans in unique armour." The golden dragon began, "They appeared in our realm out of pure coincidence, having made a blind jump with the technology they had to escape their pursuers."

"We know this. Why are you telling us this again?" Metalicana asked.

"I you allowed me to finish, you'd find out." The golden dragon stated.

"My apologies your majesty." Metalicana said, bowing his head.

"Anyways, as I was saying, they arrived in our realm looking for refuge whilst they prepared to find a way to combat against their former comrades." The golden dragon continued, "We offered them refuge, and in exchange they offered to help us with any task that we saw fit to ask them to complete." The golden dragon stated, "The mission we gave them was to recon the human realm and determine if they were ready for our return. However, I tasked the one know as Agent Texas with a second task that only myself, Achnologia, The Gatekeeper and Agent Texas."

"What was this mission?" Igneel asked.

"Agent Texas was tasked with finding mine and Achnologia's daughter, who we had to leave as she was far too vulnerable the way she was." The golden dragon answered.

The other dragons seemed to share looks of shock.

"Am I to assume that she is part of the group that came with them?" Weisslogia asked.

"She is." The golden dragon stated, "Texas, bring forward my daughter."

Texas grabbed Lucy by her upper arm, shocking the girl. She dragged the younger blonde to below the steps up to the throne.

Lucy was looking around frantically, confused as to what was happening, whilst Texas just stood at parade rest next to her.

"What's happening?" Lucy asked, a slight twinge of fear in her voice.

"Lucy... I know you are probably confused, but allow me to explain." The golden dragon stated in a soothing voice, "Me and Achnologia are your parents."

"That can't be true, my mama died seven years ago, and my father went back to the merchant guild to build his wealth back up!" Lucy exclaimed, her voice full of confusion and hysteria.

"I guess you wouldn't believe us without evidence. Fine then, allow me to show you some evidence." The golden dragon stated, suddenly being enveloped in a golden light.

An immense magical force fell upon those in the throne room, forcing the humans down to their knees and the dragons were beginning to sweat from the stress. Only two were unaffected by the force, Achnologia and Lucy.

The light died down, and where once stood a towing dragon, now stood a human female.

Her hair was in a regal bun, with strands at the front being left loose, framing her face. She had fair, unblemished skin that shone in the light, giving off an angelic aura from just looking at her. Soft, chocolate brown eyes glanced around the room. A pure white toga hung from one shoulder, a golden broach securing it in place, fitting into the curves of her body. Her body shape was curvaceous and was one that other women would kill for and one that men would drool over.

She was basically an older version of Lucy.

The woman that stood before them forced tears to well up in Lucy's eyes and a sob of joy to get caught in the back of her throat.

"Mama? Is that really you?" Lucy asked tentatively, worried that she was dreaming and that she would wake up to find her mother gone again.

"Yes, my dear daughter." Her mother responded, tear beginning to cascade down her face as she too allowed the emotions she'd been holding back during the start of this meeting to flow free.

The two ran at each other, meeting half way and embracing in a hug the likes neither had experienced for years, one of a familial relationship.

"I thought you had died." Lucy sobbed, hugging the woman with all her might.

"I know, and I'm sorry I had to deceive you, but it was for your own good, to keep you protected." The woman said to her.

"Lucy, who is this?" Erza questioned her friend.

"This is the person I believed dead, my mother Layla."

 **A.N – Hope you enjoyed this instalment of the story. Please leave a review on how I could improve it and favourite and follow to keep up to date with each chapter I post.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Project Freelancer: Agents of Freelancer**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing**

 **Chapter Four: Joining Up**

Lucy stood there, embracing her mother whilst the rest stood there, staring on. Everything around her seemed to cease existing, all that mattered was the person who had her wrapped up in their arms.

The hug was broken when Lucy pulled away and gave her mother a thoughtful stare. Layla noticed this and returned her gaze with one of confusion.

"You seem troubled, why is that?"

Lucy looked away, a blush spreading across her face at being noticed. She let out a breath of air, before turning back to look at her mother.

"I was just wondering, why did you leave me and father?"

This seemed to catch Layla off guard, causing her to reel back slightly.

She cast her gaze to the floor, took a breath and straightened her posture as she began to speak.

"I had no choice, I had to protect you from an evil entity that threatened the dragons."

"Who was it?"

"Zeref."

The name that left Layla's mouth caused time to freeze around the mages. Their eyes widened to the size saucers and their bodies were as rigid as a mountains.

"How? I thought he was sealed away centuries ago?" Lucy questioned, her voice laced with fear as the mere thought of the dark mage caused a shiver to rocket up her spine.

"You are correct, but he had somehow managed to break the seal?" Layla responded, "He kept his return a secret from the rest of the world, hence the reasons for projects like the 'Tower of Heaven' occurring at the time."

This caused Erza to snap out her shock induced paralysis and take an uneasy step forward. The sound o her foot tapping the floor as she moved grabbed the attention of the rest, causing her to freeze in place.

"H-how do you know of that?" She asked, her voice shaking as memories of the time she spent their flooded through her head. All that time spent building a tower in the middle of the ocean, all the time she spent with her fellow slaves and finally, the moment as she watched her friend become obsessed with completing the tower at the cost of the freedom they had all just received.

"We monitor the Human Realm, always watching for major magical events." Igneel stated, "At first, the 'Tower of Heaven' had eluded our attention up until the time a group of mages ended up their after one was abducted. Certain events transpired and eventual, the former Magic Council became panicked and ordered the Etherion Cannon to be fired upon the tower, the magic used to generate the cannon was what alerted us of the Tower's existence."

Erza nodded her head in understanding, stepping back to stand in line with the Freelancers and the exceeds.

"If Zeref was free, why didn't he enlist people like the 'Tower of Heaven' cult to assist him?" Lucy questioned.

"Simple, he needed allies that could fight against us, people like those cults were nothing compared to what he did use." Layla stated.

Lucy looked her mother in the eyes, a question forming on her tongue, but the fear of the answer kept her asking. Swallowing her fear, she decided to speak up.

"W-what did he use." She stuttered, her voice shaking as her fear of the man remained.

"He indoctrinated some of my men." Acnologia stated from Lucy, his deep baritone voice making her jump.

The girl turned to look up at the Chaos Dragon, her chocolate brown eyes meeting his pure white ones.

"What do you mean by that?" She questioned.

He looked at the girl, his stare making her want to shrink in on herself. He released a sigh and then began to speak.

"Me and my men use Chaos magic, a magic which he has mastered and even added to it." He spoke, "As such, he found a way to use his magic to alter how some of my men think." He paused, looking down at the girl to make sure she was still listening, "He would cast spells on any Chaos Dragons he was able to catch, making them bend to his will. First, we attempted to stop this by having the main clans send off their leaders to teach a single human each, creating the mages known as Dragon Slayers. While they were doing that, your mother and yourself were hidden, and the Heartfilia estate was set up, along with Jude being indoctrinated to act like he was your father."

"Wait." Lucy stated, halting Acnologia in his explanation, "I guessed he wasn't my real father, but you had him brainwashed to think he was! Don't you think that's a bit… unethical."

"It was necessary, we value the humans as our allies, but our people's safety comes first, at any cost." Acnologia responded, emphasizing the last bit.

Lucy was still left confused and doubted if it was really necessary.

"I know you doubt the decision we took back then, but it was to keep you and your mother protected while I hunted down Zeref and the rest were teaching their students."

"But what about when mother 'died' and the dragons left? Why did he become angry?"

"Unlike the way Zeref indoctrinated my men, Jude needed to be kept in within Layla's view otherwise our manipulation of him would be weakened, hence the reason when she left, he became angrier and colder."

"But why did he get angry at me? You said he was indoctrinated to keep me safe, so why did he take his anger out on me?"

"That we cannot answer." Layla responded, drawing the girl's attention to her, "We can only assume that with the weakened connection, he became slightly aware of what had occurred and had gained a deep resentment toward you because of how you're linked to it."

Lucy nodded her head, accepting the answer. She turned her attention back towards Acnologia, who had stayed quiet when Layla had been explaining.

"What happened that cause you all to leave?"

"Zeref finally found a way into our realm."

All the dragons bowed their heads, remembering what was one of the darkest days in their history. Lucy noticed this and decided to ask the question that had formed in her head.

"How did he do it?"

Acnologia seemed to be surrounded by a gloomy aura when she asked, almost like he felt responsible for something.

"One of my Generals betrayed me. At some point in time, he had encountered Zeref and they had formed an agreement." He answered, "There indoctrination involved, but I should have noticed, he became more hostile, started trying to convince me of how the Chaos Dragons could rule the Dragon Realm, I just thought he was trying to be some glory hound." He paused, looking down at his daughter, "I was wrong, he was just giving me the option to side with him and Zeref, but when I said we wouldn't overthrow the queen, he went on to Plan B."

"What was plan B?" Lucy questioned.

"As a General, he didn't need permission from me to get the Dragon Realm portal opened." Acnologia began, "This meant he could contact the Galaxy Dragon and have the portal opened. When the Galaxy Dragon responded, he lead an army of indoctrinated Chaos Dragons into our realm, killed the Galaxy Dragon and kept the portal opened, allowing for Zeref to enter as well."

"And I assume when word of the invasion got to you, that's when you recalled the other dragons, right?" Lucy asked

"Yes." He responded, "After that, a small scale war ensued and only through shear numbers and loyalty, were we able to come out victorious."

"Zeref was sealed away at the end of that war, but we fear that recent events could mean he had broken free again." Layla stated.

The mages were horrified by this and, though not as horrified, the dragons were shocked.

No one knew how to conduct themselves in light of this new information. Metalicana seemed to be the first one to gain some composure and stepped forward.

"You can't be serious, we made sure to use a seal that he himself couldn't breakout of, not without assistance from a high-level mage on the outside." He began, "Even then, the location of the seal is known only to us and the island is sacred to that mage guild I can't remember for the life of me."

"Its Fairy Tail you idiot." Igneel stated.

"What was that fire breath?!"

"You heard me, metal head!"

They butted heads, pushing against each other and growling.

"Aahmph."

The sound of their queen reminded them of the current situation at hand. They moved away from one and other, turning to bow their heads, asking for forgiveness.

"Please refrain from doing that again." Layla sighed out, "And yes, the island is the sacred island of Fairy Tail known as Tenrou Island."

The mages were shocked by this knowledge, more so Erza than the rest.

"Tenrou? You sealed the Dark Mage Zeref on Tenrou?!" She exclaimed in hysterics.

The dragons stared at the girl in confusion, not understanding why she reacted the way she did.

"We did." Skiadrum answered cautiously, not wanting to make the situation worse, "Why does this concern you."

Erza went to reply, but Lucy gave her look, not one that was forceful, but more of a depressed one, reminding the redhead of the events that had led them here. She stepped back and remained quiet, something which didn't go unnoticed by the dragons.

"Lucy dear, why does Tenrou cause you and your friends grief?" Layla questioned.

Lucy was unsure of hoe to answer. On one hand, she wished to keep what happened in the forest quiet for the time being, wanting to come to terms with properly herself; however, she also didn't want to lie to her mother, knowing that that would hurt her should she find out from someone other than herself.

"We were a part of Fairy Tail, but something happened that has caused us to leave." Lucy replied.

"What happened?" Layla questioned.

"We were betrayed."

Layla was shocked by what she heard, appalled at the thought of someone from guild with a reputation like Fairy Tail, would have the gall to stab a friend in the back. Acnologia felt his rage begin to boil over, more so than when he fought in the Dragon King Festival. The other dragons felt emotions similar to the two.

"Who betrayed you?" Acnologia asked, his deep voice shaking as he tried to contain his anger.

"My partner, Natsu."

A gasp was heard from where the dragons stood. Everyone turned to look and realized it had come from Igneel.

"You said Natsu, as in the same Natsu I raised?"

"Yes, the very same."

Igneel cast his eyes to the ground in shame, not knowing how else to react to the news. He began to growl and the aura around him changed to anger as he let out a mighty roar.

"THAT LITTLE BASTARD!" He bellowed, "I taught him how to survive in the Human Realm, and one of those lessons was that he should never turn his back on his friends!"

Lucy jumped when he suddenly became encompassed in flames, some of the other dragons even taking a step away from him. Metalicana and Acnologia were the only ones to step closer.

"You betta knock it off old man, you know the use of destructive magic is forbidden from being used inside the throne room unless in an emergency." Acnologia exclaimed as he stood in front of the raging Fire Dragon Lord.

"The brat is right ash-for-brains, cool it before were forced to beat the shit out ya." Metalicana added, he too wanting to bring the dragon down to a more tolerable level of anger.

The ragged breathing coming from the Fire Dragon began to level out and the flames died down, eventually vanishing completely. He let out a breath of smoke as he finally calmed back down, having seen reason in what the two male dragons had said.

"Now that Igneel has calmed down, shall we continue?" Layla asked, receiving no opposition, "Good, now the next agenda is the forming of a task force to openly combat any followers of Zeref and Zeref himself when they appear."

"Aye." Acnologia stood in, "With it being unclear of where it is, we have decided that we need to have presence in the Human Realm to prevent him from building an army to invade us from there."

"Who shall make-up this task force?" Weisslogia questioned.

"The Freelancers have already agreed to join the task force, but there are a few more we are wishing to join them." Layla said, turning to look at her daughter and her friends.

Everyone else followed where she was looking and began to stare at the three humans and Exceed duo.

Lucy turned and looked behind her before turning back to the dragons and Freelancers, seeing they were still looking at her. She repeated what she did and concluded they were looking at them.

"US?!"

"Yes, you." Layla said in response to her daughters outburst, "We believe you will be suitable for the role once your training has been completed, and your friends will be just as capable once they have received some training from us as well if the video data that was streamed from Tex's armour before it was destroyed by Natsu's initial attack."

Lucy looked down at her feet, her bangs shadowing her eyes.

"How can you say that, if you've seen the data then you know why most people resented me at the guild. They thought I was weak." She said in a pained voice.

"Your wrong about that Lucy." Erza said, causing Lucy's head to shoot up in shock, expecting no one to say anything and just agree with how she thought, "You are not weak and anyone who thinks it will taste the steel of my blades." She finished, a dark aura surrounding her as she spoke.

"Yeah, they don't know what they're talking about. Without you, Team Natsu would have collapsed in on itself ages ago." Wendy added, walking over and hugging Lucy's waste.

"See child. Do not doubt yourself as you are much stronger than you believe yourself and you will progress to an even greater strength once you have completed your training." Layla stated as well.

Lucy looked up and saw her friends and her parents looking at her, offering an encouraging look to her. She stood up straight and nodded her head towards her mother.

"I'll do it!" She exclaimed, her earlier depression seeming having vanished, "Ill work in the task force, especially if it proves all those who doubted me wrong."

Her friends agreed and were prepared to follow her example, her parents nodded and smiled, while Igneel and Metalicana cheered; the rest of the dragons and the Freelancers remained silent and unmoved on the outside, but were happy about her response on the inside.

"Now that we have got that out of the way, let's begin to go over what you'll be doing in your training." Layla spoke.

Acnologia stood forward again.

"For the non-magical combat training, the Freelancers will be running the five of you through drills that have been made to make the hardest of human soldiers crack, good thing you're not like the humans they were made for." He stated, "For the magical side of your training, well that's going to be tailored to each of you individually from what we have seen from the recordings."

He paused for a moment and then turned to look at Wendy.

"For you Miss Marvell, you will be finishing off your Dragon Slayer training with Grandeeney, who will teach you the more advanced forms of Sky Dragon Slayer magic that she missed out when you were younger."

He then turned his attention to Erza.

"As for you, Miss Scarlet, you are a person of which has been trained in the art of swords, so as such you will need to be trained to use a Dragon Slayer magic that goes hand-in-hand with what you already have." He started, "As such, we believe that the best Dragon Slayer magic for you would be Lightning Dragon Slayer magic."

"How come?" Erza asked in response.

"As a master in the art of the sword, you will find that speed is your ally in this, and no other Dragon Slayer magic allows a person to travel at a great speed other than Lightning Dragon Slayer magic." Acnologia explained.

Erza nodded and accepted this fact, allowing him to turn his gaze on Lucy.

"And finally, you Lucy, as heir to the Dragon Realm throne, will have to learn every Dragon Slayer magic, as the ruler of our realm must have the ability to combat all attempts of a rebellion against the crown."

"But won't that take longer to learn than everyone else's?" Lucy questioned.

"In terms of Wendy's abilities, then yes; but in terms of Erza's, you'll probably take the same amount of time."

Lucy looked confused for a moment, before returning to look at her father.

"But how does that work?"

Acnologia chuckled at this.

"You seem to forget, you're parents are dragons and as such, so are you, meaning you'll learn Dragon Slayer magic faster than anyone else."

Her eyes widened as she remember this fact herself.

"Wait, if your both dragons, does that mean that I myself have a dragon form?"

"You do indeed dear, but you have yet to discover unlock the necessary power for you to be able to support it." Layla responded.

"Now that that has been sorted, we'll now go over the arrangement of your training." Acnologia started, "Each morning you will go with the Freelancers to go through the drills they have planned, followed by an hours break at noon, after that you will go onto train with the dragon teaching you their Dragon Slayer art. This will go on until it has been deemed by us and the Freelancers that you are ready to join the task force."

Layla then moved forwards and stood in front of the mages and the exceeds.

"Now that we have sorted that, I'm sure you are all exhausted from the days events." She started, "So if you would follow me, I will show you to your rooms."

She walked to her right, heading towards a large set of double doors.

The doors appeared to be made from oak, with a pattern running from the center of the door up to the edges. The handles were made from brass and were curved, giving off a wave like effect.

As the doors swung open, a long hallway was revealed to be behind them.

The hallway had a brown wooden floor, with a red rug laid across it and a golden trim along the edges of the rug. The wall was painted red on the bottom half, a wooden brown wooden trim running along the middle and the top half being painted white. The ceiling was white, with stem like patterns running along and leafs jutting off of the stems. Dotted along the ceiling at certain intervals, were miniature chandeliers that provided light to the room when it becomes dark outside. Along the left hand side of the wall were mixtures of paintings, models in cabinets and busts on wooden stands. Opposite them on the right hand side were windows that looked out onto a courtyard, where a fountain surrounded by grass and plant pots could be seen. At the end of the hallway was a stairway that curved around and lead up to a second floor.

Layla began to walk down the hallway before turning around and looking at the five.

"Come on now, you won't be able to get any proper rest just standing there."

The five quickly followed after her and the doors closed behind them.

With them gone, Acnologia turned his attention onto the ex-Freelancers.

"Whilst you were out Texas, your construct intercepted a call from a place called Blood Gulch Outpost Alpha Blue Base, they were requesting for reinforcements." He began, "Your construct told the construct known a "Vic" that a Freelancer would be dispatched an it passed it onto the one's that called."

Tex nodded, before turning to the other Freelancers in the room.

"Who wants to go?" She asked.

Acnologia cleared his throat, grabbing their attention.

"Your construct has already decided for you and told the other construct that it would be you that they would send."

Tex seemed to deflate from the news, letting out an exasperated sigh. She returned to look at the other Freelancers again.

"Four Seven Niner, prep your bird for take off, we'll leave in three hours." Tex stated.

Four Seven Niner nodded and headed off to where she left her Pelican so that she could get it refueled and rearmed.

Tex then returned to look at Acnologia.

"Do you have anything else for us?"

"We have been discussing how to get you inserted into the magical world." He began, "We took into consideration that as highly trained cover-operatives like yourself, you will wish to not use flashy tactics like yelling your move out, so we have decided that, upon your approval, all your weapons and armour can have a rune engraved into them and sealed into a pocket dimensions that you can access at will, thus allowing you to have the appearance of mages."

"How long will it take?" Tex asked.

"A couple of days at best." Acnologia answered.

"I'll leave what weapons I don't need for someone to pass onto you." She answered, "Is that all?"

"Yes, you are dismissed." Acnologia answered.

"Right, I'll go get ready, the rest of you head up to your rooms and get some rest, your going need to be ready for training them kids tomorrow." Tex said, turning away from the rest and heading out the doors they came through, heading towards where all there spare sets of armour were kept and their weapons.

The rest of the ex-Freelancers headed down the hall that Layla and the mages had gone down, heading up the stairs to the second floor.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, they were greeted to a hallway that was similar to the bottom floor, with how the walls were painted and the ceiling, the floor being made of brown wood, with a rug with gold accents laid across it and the windows placed to look out onto the courtyard from before. However, instead of bits of art and models, there were two plain oak doors and even more round the corner at the end of the hallway.

The freelancers carried on down the hallway, turning the corner and going onto a stretch of hallway that had four doors on either side.

The freelancer split off there, each heading into their own designated rooms.

The rooms were very different to what they were used to. For starters, they could probably fit about ten standard Freelancer grade bedrooms into one of them and still have a bit of space to spare. The beds were king sized four posters and their mattresses were like laying on clouds. Each room was painted a light brown with a white ceiling that had the same stem and leaf like patterns from the hallway engraved into it. There was a window opposite the doors that looked out towards the rest of the Dragon Realm, where the different elements that make up the realm could be seen on one of the many floating islands. The floor was different to the hallway, as instead of wood with rug over it, it was instead carpeted over with a beige carpet.

Each Freelancer stripped off their armour and went about their pre-sleep routines before climbing into their respective beds and finally getting some much deserved rest.

 **-With Texas-**

Tex had just finished collecting her spare set of armour she had and loading up the weapons she was taking onto the Pelican.

"You ready to go?" She heard Four Seven Niner ask from the cockpit of the Pelican.

"Aye lets get going, sooner I get this done the better." She said. "I can't stand Sim Troopers."

 **A.N - That is another installment of Project Freelancer: Agents of Fiore. I hope you enjoyed it and I am sorry I have been away for awhile but I got caught up in coursework and revision, but that is now finished, I'm finding more time to write this. So please follow and favorite it if you liked it and leave a review if you spot any errors or on how I could make it better.**


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